RepRap Research Foundation

This is the keystone in the Generation 3 Electronics, and its finally ready for primetime. We’ve worked really hard to develop the latest generation of open source electronics for the RepRap project, and this guy is it. It has an onboard Sanguino which is pre-wired to drive all the various peripherals you need to control your RepRap machine. Read more about the board on the RepRap blog or the documentation wiki.

If you’d like to get a kit to build and use for your RepRap machine, they are available from MakerBot Industries. As always, if you are a kit seller and decide to sell this kit, please contact us and we will give you a shout out on the blog.

Disclaimer: I am a co-founder of MakerBot Industries

Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

We’ve been working on the new Extruder Controller for quite a while. Its a single board that is capable of controlling an entire extruder. It is part of the Generation 3 RepRap electronics, and I’m rather proud of it. It has an onboard Arduino and communicates with the Motherboard using RS485.

Anyway, the board has reached a point where it is a solid, reliable design and has been picked up for production by MakerBot Industries. You can get a kit from the store, and they will be selling fully assembled units shortly. If anyone else picks up this board and decides to manufacture it, drop us a line and we’ll give you a shout out.

Disclaimer: I am a co-founder of MakerBot Industries.

Filed under: Uncategorized | No Comments »

Good news: the Stepper Motor Driver v2.3 board has been picked up by MakerBot Industries and is now available in kit form, as well as raw pcb form for you hardcores. It is available on the MakerBot web store for only $16/kit.

The 2.x family of stepper drivers was developed by the RRRF as an open source stepper driver. If you are interested in manufacturing/selling the boards, please feel free to do so. When you do, drop us a line and we’ll put up a post about it on this site.

Disclaimer: I am a co-founder of MakerBot Industries.

Test Pattern 8 from MakerBot Industries on Vimeo.

Filed under: Kits, New Products | No Comments »

As part of the current RRRF transformation, I’m happy to officially announce what has been long-standing RRRF tradition. We are now opening up our prototyping services to the community and spelling out exactly what things we can do (PCB fab, lasercutting, 3D printing, etc) and how you can go about using us to help you make RepRap better.

Anyway, you can read all about it over on the RRRF info page. Essentially, we’re can help RepRap developers improve the RepRap project by covering the costs and doing the gruntwork on getting PCBs made, prototypes lasercut, parts machined, etc, etc. We hope that providing this service to the community will help spur more rapid development of the various technologies associated with RepRap.

Cheers,
Zach Hoeken
Director, RRRF

Filed under: Foundation News | No Comments »

As promised, here is the latest batch of PCB prototypes for the 3rd generation electronics:

RepRap Motherboard v1.1 - onboard Sanguino, RS485, stepper headers, RJ45 jacks and a real ATX power supply header. it can even control the power supply on/off programmatically. rad.

Extruder Controller v2.1 - onboard Arduino, RS485, one cable connection for power+comms to Motherboard, lots of goodies.

Stepper Motor Driver v2.3-r1 - minor fix to make maximum endstops work properly. works really well. much cheaper than v1.x series of stepper drivers.

Remember, when these run out, they will not be re-stocked by the RRRF as we’ll be moving on to whatever the next version we cook up is. If you want kits and such, be patient and they will start to be offered by MakerBot Industries in the next 2-3 weeks. If anyone else wants to pick them up an manufacture them, that would be awesome.

Cheers,
Zach

Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

I’m happy to announce some big changes that are happening with the RepRap Research Foundation and my involvement with the RepRap project in general. For those of you that wish to skip the lengthy blog post on what is happening, I’ll spill the beans now: the RepRap Research Foundation is transitioning from a parts clearinghouse to a primarily research oriented foundation. This change is a long time coming, and I feel it positions the Foundation more properly within the RepRap ecosystem, not to mention staying true to the name of the Foundation itself.

A few weeks ago, I circulated an email to the RRRF Board of Directors informing them about my involvement as a Founder of MakerBot Industries and what that means for the RRRF. We then had a meeting and we unanimously agreed that the RRRF should transition to a primarily research oriented foundation and that it is okay for me to continue as a volunteer researcher and director.

So, in practical terms, what does this mean? There are a few major changes that will happen in the way that the RRRF operates:

1. The RRRF will no longer supply common items (steppers, cables, etc) in the online store. We will continue to sell all the various items we have in stock in the store until they run out, but they will not be re-stocked.
2. The RRRF will continue to operate the online store, but it will be filled with extra prototypes for interested researchers. When those prototypes sell out, they will not be re-stocked. If there is enough interest, then hopefully a company such as MakerBot, Bits From Bytes, or even *YOUR* company will pick it up and manufacture it in large quantities.
3. The RRRF will institute a program to make it easier for researchers to have prototypes make for free. Over the past couple of years, the RRRF has developed a good amount of knowledge and contacts that allow us to make prototypes of many different objects quickly and cheaply. We want to give the RepRap community at large access to that in hopes of accelerating development of the technology. More details of this program coming soon.

Essentially, the RRRF will no longer be worrying about the commercial application of the technology it develops. The goal is to rapidly develop prototypes, release them to the general public and then move on to whatever the next cutting edge project is. We’ll let the commercial companies worry about which boards to produce commercially. No longer will the RRRF have to worry about not releasing a new board because it bogged down with 100 kits of the old version.

Of course, we’ll continue releasing all of our research to the public completely free under the GPL or similar license.

The net result is a separation of business and research which will hopefully push the technology forward faster and guarantee all of us better access to cooler things.

Cheers,
Zach ‘Hoeken’ Smith
Director, RepRap Research Foundation

Filed under: Foundation News | 4 Comments »

Date: 8-Mar-09

Present:
Zach Hoeken, Adrian Bowyer, Simon McAuliffe, Vik Oliver, Ed Sells (sec)

Meeting called by: Zach Hoeken

Purpose: To discuss the future of the RRRF with respect to Zach’s move towards MakerBot Industries

Zach proposed:
1. The RRRF should move from a parts clearing house to doing more pure research.
2. The RRRF should continue to distribute the results of its research, but on a smaller scale.
3. Zach volunteered to continue as a volunteer Director of the RRRF and will primarily conduct research into RepRap technology.
4. People will still be able to order parts, but from companies dedicated to selling parts (such as MakerBot Industries or Bits From Bytes). The prices should stay pretty similar.

Vik was OK with the idea. Pointed out that the RRRF is rooted in the US and it would be sensible for it to remain there for this reason.

Zach was happy to maintain directorship over the RRRF.

Simon pointed out that conflicts may kick in if Zach is running both MakerBot and RRRF, Zach stated that he will try his best to be impartial.

For funding: Zach confirmed $10,439.58 remains in the RRRF pot. Small board runs cost ~$100. The pot is therefore expected to fund the RRRF for testing for some time.

Zach stated that MakerBot Industries are looking to go for tried and tested designs. RRRF will be more cutting edge, so less conflict.

Simon registered concern that a leading company will control critical mass and therefore direction of the project. Point taken by Zach and all agree that this is unavoidable to some extent. However, MakerBot Industries will be treated as any other company associated with the project.

Zach proposed that the RRRF should make the transition from being a parts distribution company to a RepRap research and prototyping company. The RRRF should also act as a supplier for hard-to-get parts critical to the RepRap printer’s design, however, as soon as these become widely available, the RRRF should cease to supply these parts.

Unanimous vote in favour.

AB proposes to stop paying Zach. All agree.

General approval of Zach’s outstanding management of the RRRF to date.

Filed under: Minutes | 3 Comments »

Just when I get back to New York and get settled back into a routine, things get crazy again! I submitted a workshop proposal to Medialab Prado called ‘Build a 3D Printer’ and it was accepted. The result: I’m flying to Madrid for a 3-week, intensive RepRap workshop. Its going to be a blast, and I’m very excited about the cool things that are going to come out of it. I fly out Monday, January 26th and I’ll be back on Monday, February 16th.

If you’re in Madrid, you can apply to be a collaborator and come hack on RepRap for a couple weeks with me.

Don’t worry about orders though. My lovely girlfriend Jen will be filling orders for me while I’m away.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

All orders shipped.
Whew! I finally got the few items back in stock that were delaying a bunch of orders. All orders have been shipped out, and as far as I know, I’ve taken care of any mishaps that have happened as well. If you have a problem with your order or anything, please drop me a line and bring it to my attention.

Stock numbers updated.
Now that I am back down to zero orders to fill, it is a good time to take inventory and update stock totals on the website. I did just that yesterday and today, so the items on the webstore are all the items that the RRRF currently has in stock. So, if you order something, it will be shipped out within a day or two and you’ll get it right away! I’ll try to stay on top of stock better in the future. Slowly but surely I’m learning how to properly run an online store.

New Items in Stock
I’ve had a few items waiting to go up on the store that I just haven’t had a chance to put up. Some are a new twist on an old flavor, and some are just brand spanking new. Regardless, they’re all 100% awesome. Without further adieu:

Stepper Motor Driver v2.2 PCB and Stepper Motor Driver v2.3 PCB
These two stepper motor driver prototypes are nearly identical. The only real difference between v2.2 and v2.3 is that I used a slightly smaller footprint for the large capacitors on v2.2, and that I accidentally ordered green soldermask on v2.2. Nothing major, and they both work perfectly. Keep in mind that these are both SMT boards and there is no documentation… yet. Totally experimental, totally cutting edge. Buy v2.2 or v2.3 in the online store.

Extruder Controller v2.0 PCB
This is a brand spanking new control board which will be a centerpiece of the Generation 3 electronics. It is a mashup of: an arduino, a dc motor driver, a pwm controller, a temperature sensor, and it has RS485 for comms, a header for the quadrature encoder, and uses the same serial cable as the sanguino. Did I mention it has an onboard atmega168 which means you can program it just like an arduino?!? Oh yeah. This thing is rocking. Everything I’ve tested works just fine, but there is no documentation… yet. Its also mostly SMT. Again, totally experimental… enjoy. You can buy this in the online store.

Extruder nozzles, heater barrels, and thermal barriers
I found a really awesome machinist, Stan Stumbo who has crafted some very excellent machined parts for your extruders. They are based on the original spec that Adrian developed, so you can rest assured that you’re getting the very best parts. I’ve been using these parts in my recent pinch wheel extruder design and they work great.

Filed under: Uncategorized | No Comments »

I’m going to be away (and unable) to fill orders for 2 weeks. I’m traveling to Europe for some fun and relaxation. Plus, I hear its nice and cold this time of year.

First, I’m traveling to Berlin to speak at 25C3 about RepRap. Its going to be an awesome hacker conference. I’ll be hanging around in Berlin for a while after that too. Then I’ll probably fly to Stockholm to hang out with my brother.

Then, I fly back on the 8th and as soon as I can fight off the jetlag, I’ll get back to filling orders and hacking on RepRap.

Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays / Noodly Appendages,
Zach

Filed under: Uncategorized | 3 Comments »